Dear Noisebridge!! (And sudo-discuss, and Praxis)
I have invited representatives from SF-WAR to come speak at Noisebridge
some time in July on the topics of resisting sexual harassment and sexual
assault. Will keep you all updated as to when this will happen! These
training talks may give us good common ground for further discussion and
action.
I was also chatting with folks from Camp Tipsy, an event run by people in
the Bay Area, that last year had a sexual assault reported. I asked what
their community response to the assault has been.
Camp Tipsy is a community that comes together for a time limited event,
while Noisebridge is around all the time, so our needs and capabilities are
different. Camp Tipsy's actions sound possibly of interest to people at
Noisebridge, especially those who organize large events. Here is their
response (from Colin). It is well worth reading.
>>>>>
We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment of any kind that we
have announced loudly and clearly in emails to all ticket holders. We also
have hired High Rock Security to handle any issues that arise and asked
that most of the security people be women since women security are more
keyed into these matters and less likely to let guys get away with this
sort of shit. Also, it is a ticketed event this year and everyone will need
to show ID and get wristbands at the gate it is a lot easier to remove
problem individuals.
It's all about setting up an infrastructure to deal with it. A lot of
events that are more "community" events expect that things will just take
care of themselves. However what they don't realize that the problem always
comes from that one guy who is a friend of a friend or the guy who normally
would never do anything targeting the new girl who he thinks he can get
away with messing with because she doesn't have any connections with the
larger group. And the community seldom has a real way of doing anything
about it because putting your foot down and ostracizing people when is
difficult even when it is abundantly clear it needs to happen — this is
especially true in groups like geeks and artists who typically were
ostracized themselves from larger society.
<<<<<
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Liz Henry
lhenry at mozilla.comlizhenry at gmail.com
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